Kurt Busch aiming to end title drought
Cup series heads to Fort Worth with two races left before finale
FORT WORTH — Kurt Busch knows he took his first and only NASCAR Cup Series title for granted. The one that came 14 years ago with another team. “If it happens again, I’ll appreciate it that much more,” Busch said Friday.
Now 40 years old and with an uncertain future after this season with Stewart-Haas Racing, Busch arrived in Texas just outside the top four with two races left before the finale at Homestead, Fla., where four drivers will race for the championship. Three of those spots are still up for grabs.
“We have all the confidence in the world, we have all the right to be in the position we’re in,” said Busch, fifth in the standings and 25 points out of fourth. “Black and white is we have to win. That way we control our destiny.”
While Busch is still trying to clinch a spot, Joey Logano is the only driver locked in for Homestead after his bump-and-run to get past defending Cup champ Martin Truex Jr. at Martinsville last week.
Truex was upset after the race, when he vowed to prevent Logano from winning the title: “He may have won the battle, but he ain’t winning the damn war.” He sent a text to Logano later Sunday night.
“I didn’t expect to hear from him, so I wanted to tell him how I felt,” Truex said Friday in Texas. “I wanted to get his point of view and what he was thinking. What he thought about it. Now I know.”
Logano said he wasn’t surprised to hear from Truex.
“I am glad he did. It kind of broke the ice,” he said Friday. “I was planning on waiting a couple days to let things settle. It got a lot of things out of the way. We both know where we stand. We know where it is at. It is what it is and we move on.”
Seven other drivers are still competing for the final three spots. All four Stewart-Haas drivers — Busch, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer and Aric Almirola — are alive in the playoff chase, along with Truex, Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott.
While Kurt Busch has no contract for 2019 — he said there is “no movement on that” at this point — he is focused on trying to get another championship with the No. 41 Ford.
“It hasn’t been a distraction because I think the team and myself, we’ve all pushed that aside, and said let’s focus on the now and getting the best that we can with the mindset, the crew guys, just the overall atmosphere,” he said.
At Texas, Busch has 18 career top-10 finishes. He finished seventh here in April after winning a second consecutive pole at the 1½-mile track.
QUALIFYING: Ryan Blaney earned the pole at Texas after going 200.505 mph Friday. While Blaney had the fast lap in the final stage of qualifying, three championship contenders from Stewart-Haas Racing were among the Fords that took the top five spots.
Clint Bowyer was the highest of the playoff contenders, also exceeding 200 mph.
CAR SWAP: Jimmie Johnson and Fernando Alonso will swap race cars following Alonso’s final Formula One race.
The championship drivers have been teasing the Nov. 26 swap in Bahrain on their social media accounts for about a month and finally revealed Friday what they have been plotting.
Johnson, a seven-time NASCAR champion, will travel to London after the season finale for a seat fitting and time in the McLaren simulator. He will attend the F1 finale in Abu Dhabi, which is Alonso’s final race before the two-time world champion leaves the series.
Johnson and Alonso will then travel to Bahrain after the F1 finale for the ride swap. A Hendrick Motorsports stock car was shipped last month to Bahrain in a container that included tires and equipment for a full-day run.